Cape Coral, the city Crazy Fish calls home, is ripe with retired, New England transplants looking for fresh (often battered and fried) seafood served quickly and inexpensively.

This is a crowd that doesn't much care for sleek decor or creative culinary flourishes. Feed them generous portions at fair prices; throw in some early-bird specials and a juicy, thick cut of prime rib now and then and, voila: You have a loyal following.

Crazy Fish New England Seafood, which took over the Ariels New England Seafood building earlier this year, does all of that.

But it also reaches further.

Crazy Fish took the Ariels menu, left the fresh seafood and low prices, and then added some flash of its own: Like the Bodo's Crazy Fish in a Cup. This seafood stew, the creation of chef/owner Bodo Knoche, is packed with scallops, mussels, shrimp and fish in a savory tomato-based broth. It's a dish that warms the soul; the type of food you want to curl up in front of the fireplace with - never mind the raging late-May heat.

That flash is also seen on the wine list, a short but interesting selection that goes beyond the usual house staples to include bottles like Menage a Trois - a cheekily named red blend offered at Crazy Fish for just $18.99 a bottle.

With most entrees treading in the $10 range, one might expect paper-lined baskets thrown at you by an indifferent wait staff. Not so.

In the cramped confines of the clean, white-and-blue trimmed dining room, the staff maintains a purposeful flow of food and drink through the always-swinging door that separates the kitchen from the front of the house.

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That front of house smells, as it should, of bubbling grease and malt vinegar. You walk in and think: Fish and chips - which, featuring a giant fillet of golden-fried cod, is a just fine way to go about a meal here.

Upgrade to the Crazy Captain Matt's Combo and for a few extra dollars you can add heaps of fried clams and corn-meal crusted oysters to the fray.

The dynamite shrimp, also fried, is a worthy appetizer. The shrimp come slathered in a tangy-spicy sauce that's vaguely Asian and wholly delicious.

The $12.99 lobster roll, packed with big lumps of sweet claw meat on a soft hoagie and served with your choice of mayo or drawn butter, feels like it should cost at least $3 more.

From the non-seafood side there's a perfectly decent 1Ú2-pound cheeseburger and that aforementioned prime rib.

But not everything at Crazy Fish wows.

The crab teasers - fritters of crab, jalapeno and jack cheese - needed more crab. A dish of lobster ravioli had a pasty quality as big chunks of thick, clunky marinara dragged down the plate.

Like the rest of the meal, those sweets were nothing spectacular: Just honest, simple food priced fairly. That's a recipe that would make most anyone happy, and it seems to be doing just that in the Cape.